SPRING-Clean Declutter - Need Help

[Faith-and-Hope]

Mr.f&h ..... also known as mr-all-or-nothing wants nothing there in fact ..... he is going to have to live with the reality of winter here before there will be any movement in his stance ......

He doesn’t like any of this last round of furniture I have bought, that takes the house from a rental-type set-up to a family home ..... he had kept raving to extended family about how wonderful it was when we stayed here that it was so clutter free ..... well so is a hotel room ! As soon as you make it a long-term living space with a family in it, guess what ? The hotelesque clutter-free state evaporates, unless you live extremely minimally, which just wouldn’t work for us.

We have very busy minds ..... all of us. Therefore games and books are part of the furniture .... and have I mentioned that four of us paint / draw / craft ??

And the kitchen is a shoebox ..... and the laundry an even smaller shoebox ..... so .....?? More storage is a necessity and he won’t put a door on anything else ..... so open shelving it is !!

[Owlunar]

Aw @Faith-and-Hope

I really love shelves and cupboards - I love to have my books and precious treasures where I can see them and also my day-to-day equipment where I can lay my hands on them easily and without looking.

So Mr F&H can get a different idea - I wonder where he expects everything to be - I am on your side - it makes me wonder a whole lot what I would do without my teak wall-units that do take up space but are so handy and I enjoy dusting and moving my ornaments around at times

So whose nose it out of joint - his or yours? - you need stuff and the space to keep it - ah - I am totally on your side

Still sending the love and prayers Faith - and for your sanity - hold on and get the cupboards and bookshelves - 

Gee - there are such good points about having my own place which is like a walk-in library

Dec

[Faith-and-Hope]

I love the sound of your walk-in-library @Owlunar .....

The kids like the shelves, and the decluttered living space that has come with them ..... but we are having the war-of-the-clothes-drying-rack at the moment ...... have to see how that ends up yet ..... but he is tired of all my hand washing hanging dripping in the shower stall he uses twice a day ......

[Smc]

Would he object to "invisible storage'? Under bed storage tubs, storage ottomans? I know they don't do the job for pots pans and plastics, or art supplies for that matter. 

[Owlunar]

Well @Faith-and-Hope - you have to put your drip-dries somewhere

I have two airers always set up in my hobby room - where else would I keep my piano keyboard and jigsaw puzzle and whatever I am doing, I am lucky to have this extra room I guess but in winter I hang my whole wash on these to airers at times - they are a wonderful idea

The alternative would be a dryer I guess but I don't like them personally - other people might - would Mr F&H like a dryer where you live now?

When I didn't have a washing machine I would put my airers in the bath to let them drip-dry - but

Showers twice a day every day???!!! - something has to be moved all the time - I get the layout Faith - this is a logistical problem

Ah - I know - suggest he showers at the gym or swimming pool - I am interested - he has a choice - move the stuff in the shower stall - have an airer in the bath or go to the public showers as the Romans did - well to be precise they had a sociable public bath

Still thinking of your Faith - I nearly always have those little pink flowers in my are there all the time to remind me of you

Dec

[Faith-and-Hope]

I have done that, and lots of it, on pr virus homes @Smc ...... had a wooden toybox as our coffee table when the kids were small. I had even taken to buying heaps of archive boxes, and stacking them under anything that would disguise them - they were great cos you could write on the outside of them what was in there ......

Here there is no room for the “invisible” storage ..... beds etc are low to the floor.

What I have done is put small bedside chests of drawers as occasional tables on either side of the main lounge chair, so they can story stationary and gift-wrap .... that sort of thing ..... and I have bought purpose-dimesigned hanging rails for the kitchen to hang utensils above the bench top. I have even bought a tiny bench top ironing board because the laundry bench is about 600 x 600ml. I have put stick-on hooks on the wall for anything I can hang up, like bathroom and laundry cleaning cloths ..... I am rivalling the showrooms of a Swedish design company here that specialise in shoebox living .... lol ....

Think I am going I do my old trick of buying a stack of cheap plastic laundry baskets, and just land that in a place that a piece of furniture is required with everything piled into it. When everyone is tired of looking at the laundry basket, but are used to using their contents and recognise that hey are necessary, we might get some sensible dialogue going about furniture requirements.

[Faith-and-Hope]

Thanks @Owlunar ..... mr. was turning to rages in the last few years to demand his way over things ..... all that has stopped now, so there is still some eggshell-walking to do so it’s not re-triggered over things such as this.

We will get there ..... wherever there is .....

[Smc]

take care @Faith-and-Hope....

[Faith-and-Hope]

Thanks @Smc ....

[Owlunar]

I understand that @Faith-and-Hope - egg-shell walking and sensible logistic conversation -  preferable to rages - I get it

It seems as if you are doing a lot of small things to get around the situation - but I can't help wondering where people are supposed to keep their possessions - but I guess we all have our ideas about things like that

I have a small set of shelves made with good wood - I keep my socks and undies in ice-cream containers on those shelves - which fit into my wardrobe - the bookself (which is not actually mine) is in a good place and  my smalls have to live somewhere - so it works

But I would love one of those sets of drawers for undies and small items - but really - what works now keeps working and I doubt after all these years if the owner of the shelves will ever return - I hope not anyway

All the best Faith - I just got the news this morning that my daughter might - most likely - have to have a hysterectomy - there is a huge family history of it - starting with me

Ah - the things that beset us

Dec